Convictions Surge for Illegal Immigrants Who Try to Return to U.S.

The Number Rose 28-fold in Two Decades, New Study Shows

Undocumented immigrants convicted of unlawfully re-entering the U.S. are driving growth in the number of people overall who are sentenced in federal court, a new study shows.

From 1992 through 2012, the number of unlawful re-entry convictions rose 28-fold, to 19,463 in 2012, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, the number of offenders of all sorts sentenced in federal courts more than doubled to...